Famous Loomises (II): Homer Loomis

Homer Loomis was an American fascist.

Specifically, Loomis was a race-baiter and self-proclaimed fascist who attempted to rouse the people of Atlanta into white supremacist politics in the years after World War II. Originally from New York City, Loomis was a co-founder of The Columbians, Inc. in 1946. Disgusted by the gains African-Americans had made during World War II, Loomis and his cohort hoped to ignite a race war and moved to Atlanta to do so. According to Kevin Kruse, from whose White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism this is drawn from, Loomis wanted to be the Hitler of America.

"His hair was close cropped, Prussian style," an acquaintance recalled, "and his eyes had a Satanical look about them." Loomis had a specific model in mind. "I'm going to be the Hitler of America," he bragged. Friends were asked to greet him with, "Heil, Loomis!"

In order to join the Columbians, Loomis had three requirements. "Number one: Do you hate niggers? Number two: Do you hate Jews? Number three, Do you  have three dollars?" This combination of racism and hucksterism caught fire in the working-class districts of Atlanta, where a growing African-American population was pressing into white neighborhoods. The Columbians focused their efforts on keeping all-white neighborhoods that way; as Kruse demonstrates, that was the fundamental issue that would shape post-war racial politics in Atlanta.

The Atlanta establishment was having none of this. Having prided themselves on a paternalistic racial tolerance, they weren't ready to let neo-fascists overturn their power base. Although they would later lose their hold on the city's politics in the face of massive resistance to the civil rights movement, in the 1940s that time had not yet arrived.

Homer Loomis faced tried in 1947 on charges of inciting a riot, assault, and usurping police powers. Despite his lawyer-father pleading to the jury that his son was being "crucified like Christ by the Jews," the jury sentenced Loomis to 2 years on the chain gang followed by 6 months in prison.

As far as I can tell, Loomis disappeared from the scene after 1947. But once white supremacists began cloaking racism in more respectable language around ideas of property rights and freedom of association, beginning to develop what I call the New Racism, Loomis' ideas took hold in the white population, even if is messianic tendencies and overt fascism did not.

A lengthy discussion of The Columbians, Inc. can be found here.

You Know What Would Really Teach the Kids About History? A Old-Timey Lynching

Wow

A north Georgia history teacher faces punishment after administrators say she let four students wear Ku Klux Klan-like robes for a historical reenactment.

Administrators say four students in Ariemma's advanced placement history class donned Klan-like outfits while filming historical reenactments. Moye says students saw them Thursday and parents of a black student complained.  

I wonder how far such actions could go. Nothing would teach the kids about early 20th century north Georgia race relations than actually lynching a black person! But then, I'm sure that here in Texas, we're now teaching our children how the KKK had to stop crazy black men from raping our white women....

Historical Image of the Day

Barrels at resin yard, Savannah, Georgia, 1903

Most Prominent Politicians From Each State, IV: Georgia

And now we get to the South. Between reelecting their legislators until they die and defending segregation, southern states have played a powerful role in American politics from the beginning of the republic to the present. Georgia is possibly above average compared to the region and certainly two Georgians have played key roles in the last 40 years.

1. Newt Gingrich. One of the 5 most important politicians of the past 20 years and Georgia's most important. The Gingrich-led Republican Revolution revolutionized American politics. Sure, it was for the worse. Many of the terrible problems we face today come from Gingrich and his allies. But that only reinforces his importance.

2. Jimmy Carter. A remarkable figure in so many ways. Carter survived the segregationist era to become the Democratic candidate for president in 1976. His administration wasn't particularly successful (though this had much to do with white backlash and the rise of the New Right, conditions completely out of his control). Along with John Quincy Adams, the most successful and eventful ex-president in American history. Richly deserved his Nobel Peace Prize.

3. Alexander Stephens. Vice-President of the Confederacy. It's hard to imagine Gingrich wouldn't be the most loathsome of the top 3, but in Georgia's case, the competition for most disgusting is very strong.

It's pretty easy to string out a top 10 for Georgia, with some strong candidates left over. Briefly:

4. Tom Watson--the Populist leader started his career as a champion for economic rights and ended it as a race-baiting supporter of the KKK in the U.S. Senate

5. Richard Russell--U.S. Senator from 1933-71, leader of the Senate's segregationist wing.

6. John Lewis--Possibly I'm overstating his role, but given his strong role in Congress for many years and his pioneering role as a post-civil rights movement African-American legislator, plus his amazing career in the movement, and it's clear Lewis deserves this spot.

7. Carl Vinson--the first person to serve more than 50 years in the House of Representatives, Vinson was very important in creating American naval policy in the mid-20th century.  Of course, he was also a staunch segregationist.

8. Andrew Young--another pioneering African-American politician. Young was a congressman, mayor of Atlanta, and the first African-American U.N. Representative.

9. Herman Talmadge--Another long-serving segregationist leader of the mid-20th century. I swear, it seems like Georgia had 5 senators during these years.

10. Sam Nunn--One of the most powerful Democratic leaders of the late 20th century. Played a major role in defense policy and is still influential today in retirement.

Next--Connecticut

Historical Image of the Day

This week's we will focus on the prison in American history.

Andersonville Prison, Georgia, Civil War

Historical Image of the Day

This week's theme is color documentary photography from the early 1940s. Thanks to the great Jay Sellers (the man who coined the term "treason in defense of slavery") for suggesting this theme and providing the link.

Sharecroppers, Georgia, 1941. Photo by Jack Delano.

Elections ongoing

It still ain't over until...

Well, according to this post over at Bitch, Ph.D., it might end up in the courts.

I'm by no means unbiased here. Norm Coleman is a dangerous wanker, one of the few political figures I actually hate. He was my hometown mayor, he's in a sham marriage and talks about family values, and his hypocritical stands are matched by canny triangulation.

He's engaged in a full court press. With Alaska gone D, and Georgia close, this might be THE filibuster breaker. The Star Tribune, the onetime liberal Minneapolis daily, is drinking Normade, and Minnesota Public Radio, the most aristocratic of public radio stations, is pushing RNC lines.

Please call the Franken campaign and get them to wake up. Call MPR and write the Star Tribune. Maybe this will work out, but the Right is putting more pressure on the Secretary of State's office than the other side. Minnesota has a good process that should be run without interference. If Coleman wins the recount clean, well then we kick him around for 6 more years, but if he succeeds in sending it to the courts, then we're still in 'Right Wing Judicial Coup' territory.

Links available over there.

Also, over at my.barackobama.com, you can find a phonebanking tool for voters in Georgia for the recount.

Don't forget these because we won the big one.

They Make 'Em Special in Georgia

A special kind of stupid, that is:

In July, Barack Obama proposed a “civilian national security force,” an idea backed by President Bush and intended to expand AmeriCorps and other national service
programs. But today in an interview with the AP, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) compared the idea to a Gestapo-like force:

“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun said. “When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

“We can’t be lulled into complacency,” Broun said. “You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential of going down that road."

Maybe it's because I've learned a lot more about Georgian politics since my sister moved there, but this doesn't surprise me nearly as much as it probably would have a year or two ago. Nonetheless, I still remain amazed that a human being who clearly has at least enough brain capacity to breath, eat, go to the bathroom, and use sounds to form words can simultaneously accuse somebody of being like a Nazi AND a Marxist. And a little memo to Rep. Broun: Obama's not leading us down some genocidal road where the government kills millions based on racist ideologies that Obama himself drew up in not-too-well-written manifestos back in 1997. And finally, don't try to get out of it by saying that there's "potential," but you're not comparing Obama to Hitler: you are. Otherwise, there would be that "potential" under Bush, and a lot of other presidents, too, but I don't think Broun's brought this up before. So, sorry, Rep. Broun - the effort at a linguistic turn to get yourself out of trouble doesn't hold up. FAIL.

Having this follow Georgia's Republican incumbent senator Saxby Chambliss complaining that there's a runoff because of "high minority votes" and failing to get "our [white] folks" out - truly, an above-average day for Georgia's politicians to reveal their stupidity, ignorance, and racism.

Give to Jim Martin

To follow up on Sarah's post below, give money to Jim Martin! Do it right here!

Words cannot describe what a horrible person Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss is. If you remember back to 2002, Chambliss called then Senator Max Cleland a traitor and connected him to Al-Qaeda. Cleland lost 3 limbs in Vietnam. This worked in Georgia. Chambliss won in the most reprehensible campaign of the year.

At the end of this election, he was campaigning heavily in northern Georgia, talking about how "they" were voting this year. Gee, who did he mean by "they"? Chambliss is a racist and a scumbag.

I just gave Jim Martin $25. I challenge the rest of you to match me.

And when I say challenge, think about to the Jerry Lewis telethons when challenges happened all the time. Like Lewis, the French love me even though I am not funny.

In all seriousness, I think most of us can give at least a small amount to help out Jim Martin. There is still a chance that a Martin win in the December runoff could give us the filibuster proof majority.

Also, Sarah deserves credit for moving this blog in a more advocacy direction, which I think is a good thing.

Georgia!

Ok, so Georgia went for McCain.

But here's the real kicker. Saxby Chambliss, best known as the complete scumbag who ran campaign videos comparing veteran Max Cleland, who left three limbs in Vietnam, with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, did NOT get 50% of the vote to retain his Senate seat.

This means there's a runoff election.

Jim Martin is another Vietnam-veteran Democrat, and in a post-Obama world, we could snag another seat here. Chambliss, a Republican incumbent in a state that went for McCain, couldn't get a majority.

Help Martin out. Saxby Chambliss is one of the most odious bastards in the Senate.

Historical Image of the Day

"Atlanta, Georgia - Manufacture of Cotton-Seed Oil; Atlanta, Georgia - The Commercial Center"

Harper's Weekly, February 12, 1887

Dispatches from Georgia

h/t Natalia Antonova.

Reasons: Pipeline (in case that’s intercepted the alternative is Russian pipeline), NATO (’our former in our very soft South underbelly can’t be part of NATO’), and personal dislike of our President Saakashvili by Russian Prime Minister Putin.

Then there is Kosovo - “if they should get independence, why shouldn’t the Ossetians?” - the thinking goes.

Then there is Iraq - “if US can hang whomever they dislike, why can’t we?”

Go read it all. Now.

Dear John McCain...

You ain't president yet. And after seeing your incredibly shortsighted response to the crisis in Georgia, I hope more than ever that you never will be.

Read This. (h/t LGM)

I must confess that McCain has crept into an elite group of assholes who cause me to turn the radio volume down when they are on NPR. Most of this campaign season, I've had no problem with listening, but after the third replay of his asinine declaration that "I know I speak for all Americans, when I say we are all Georgians now" or something of that ilk (I know both clauses there came out of his mouth, but I'm not sure which order, so don't kill me), I can't take it anymore.

Anyone who supported or supports now the Iraq war has precisely zero moral high ground to discuss the territorial integrity of sovereign nations. Absolutely none. And the fact that McCain's attempt to look tough (and against Russia, too, to add to his salivating dream of becoming the Second Coming of Reagan) appears, as noted in the linked post, to actually be affecting Bush's policy...well, let's hope that Condi has more sense than her bosses, shall we?

Because I mean really, if we're bound and determined that the "international community" should be doing something to "punish" Russia, well, what should the international community do to us?

And I think I'd rather, if I'm going to be unilaterally assumed by a presidential candidate to be in solidarity with another nation I've never been to and that most people couldn't find on a map, that it be Afghanistan. Or Iraq. Or Sudan. Y'know, places we might actually be able to help.

But, well, they're WHITE people in Georgia, right? And not Muslims? (Please excuse my sarcasm. It's early and I have a vicious head cold.)

But can you imagine how McCain would react if Obama perhaps declared his solidarity with Iraqis, or Sudanese?

Natalia has more.

And hilzoy has video.

(cross-posted. and I'm going to try to be more on top of politics, I promise.)

Historical Image of the Day

Slave women working in Georgia cotton field.

Historical Image of the Day

Georgia Governor Lester Maddox and son "escorting" a black man out of a restaurant.

Historical Image of the Day

"Rice Cultivation on the Ogeechee River, near Savannah, Georgia" Harper's Weekly, January 5, 1867

Historical Image of the Day

The Southern High-Powered Cup, Georgia, 1908

Trying to find justice in Georgia

Mercifully, a judge today has thrown out the conviction and sex offender label of Genarlow Wilson. Another fine example of the racist legal double-standard for whites and blacks in the South, Wilson is the 20 year old African-American male serving a 10-year sentence for a sex crime for engaging in a voluntary sex act with a 15 year old when he was 17. Of course, the idiot prosecutors are still going after Wilson, and he will remain in jail until the prosecutors' appeal is heard. Still, at least there is some hope here. The Georgia legislature has since re-written the law that put Wilson in jail, and the judge has already acknowledged that Wilson's conviction was, in a word, idiotic. While the fact that two teens willingly engaged in sexual acts is still prosecuteable in Georgia is laughable (as many have put it, if you're old enough to be tried as an adult, you're old enough to decide what to do with your body sexually), at least it looks like Wilson may still get a break here. It's just unfortunate he's already lost two years of his life. Here's hoping the appeals fail, and Wilson is a free man VERY soon.

Georgia - the good times keep coming...

Erik usually deals with material on Georgian racism. However, I'd like to add the latest item in the rich "legacy" of Georgia's racism in the wake of this, this, this, and this. Over the weekend, Georgia citizen Newt Gingrich commented that bi-lingualism, particularly Spanish, in the U.S. was the "language of living in a ghetto". I presume that he's not actually referring to a Jewish ghetto in Eastern Europe from World War II, but instead to the poor, inner-city, predominantly African-American neighborhoods in the United States (though I imagine he's spent as much time in the African-American ghettos as he has in the Jewish ghettos of Nazi Europe). Thus, he manages to single-handedly and racistly deride both Spanish and African-American languages and cultures.

Georgia Again Proves That It Sucks

A Georgia Senate panel has approved a plan to create a Confederate Heritage Month. At the same time, it has no interest in pushing a bill to apologize for Georgia's history of slavery. Moreover, it approved the Confederate Heritage Month unanimously.

How nice.

The bill's sponsor State Senator Jeff Mullins wants to honor ''all those millions of its citizens of various races and ethnic groups and religions who contributed in sundry and myriad ways to the cause of Southern Independence.'' Meaning those millions, of whom approximately 3 were not white, who tore the country in two in order that they could enslave black people. These treasonous Confederates are clearly worth honoring. After all, not only did they leave the union in order to rape and kill blacks with impunity, tear their families apart, and take their labor for nothing, but they also caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans! Go Confederacy!

I think the worst part about this though is Mullins and others having no interest in apologizing for slavery. Mullins says, "If I had done something personally, yes, I would apologize." This is a classic racist argument. Mullins seems to think that he has not benefited from slavery when clearly he, as whites in general have in this nation, has. Of course, there is nothing Mullins could have done about slavery, given that he was born long after the end of the Civil War. However, by not being willing to even support an apology for slavery, Mullins denigrates its history as well as denies the impact of slavery on the history of black-white relations in this nation, and more specifically in Georgia.

What's more, Mullins has done something that he needs to apologize for personally: sponsoring a bill to commemorate racist traitors that tore the country apart in the 1860s. He has insulted African-Americans in his state and throughout the nation. So he's flat out lying when he says he has nothing to apologize for.

Mullins also perpetrates the blacks supported the Confederacy myth. Despite the complete lack of evidence that large numbers of African-Americans sided with the Confederacy, Mullins and Confederate apologists claim that all the slaves who worked for the Confederacy means that it wasn't a racist regime. Of course, almost all of these people worked for the Confederacy out of fear for their lives and because of centuries of coercion. But hey, who needs evidence when you have a half-baked theory to support your present espousal of racism?

Congratulations Jeff Mullins. You win the Jerk of the Day Award. And Georgia, again you have proved you are a disgrace to the nation.